“Yanny” or “Laurel”: the audio clip that’s tearing the internet apart

On Tuesday, Cloe Feldman, a social media influencer and vlogger, posted a seemingly obvious question on her Instagram story, which she then cross-posted to Twitter: “What do you hear? Yanny or Laurel,” accompanied by a recording of a computerized voice that is clearly saying “Laurel.”

Because the internet is a place where opinions are given equal weight, some generous people have tried to understand what would cause an ostensibly logical person to think they’re hearing “Yanny” — and the answer seems to boil down to frequency. According to a theory posited by one redditor, what you hear depends on the amount of bass that’s being produced from the device you’re listening on.

But even though the generosity of these strangers is proof that the internet is an open and weird and great place where we can connect with people who don’t see or hear the world the way we might, the voice is clearly saying “Laurel.”